The Liberal Doomsayer
My blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the news and provide context to current events. I am definitely left of center politically, but as far as I'm concerned, neither major party is perfect. |
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Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer |
"Tramp"-ling On Artistic Freedom
2007-09-19 17:20:00
I don’t know if anyone is going to care about this but me, but I’m posting about it anyway.As this BBC News link tells us, 55 years ago today, Charlie Chaplin was denied entry back into the United States by the immigration service (he was sailing on the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner with his family when he received the news – the fine film “Chaplin” with Robert Downey Jr. portrays this as taking place while he was still in New York Harbor.)As the BBC story tells us…Charlie Chaplin has been under severe pressure in the US over accusations from Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee that he is associated with left-wing causes.Mr Chaplin has been on the FBI's Security Index since 1948, and he was one of over 300 people blacklisted by Hollywood film studios and unable to work after he refused to cooperate when he appeared before the Committee.When questioned about his membership of the Communist Party, Mr Chaplin answered, "I do not want to create ...
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Another Murphy/Murphy Update
2007-09-19 15:52:00
Via Atrios, I happened to come across this post from OpenLeft about more inanity from The Politico regarding the “conventional wisdom” of why Dems should roll over and play dead and that will heal all that is divisive about this country and the world, fa la la…Somewhere down in Mike Lux’s good post about why this is utter nonsense, I came across this item…The campaigns that tended to win last year were the aggressive, populist outsider campaigns. Sherrod Brown, Jon Tester, and Jim Webb each upset their opponents by running those kinds of campaigns, while Harold Ford played defense and lost. In Pennsylvania, establishment defender Lois Murphy lost while aggressor Patrick Murphy won. In Kentucky, establishment defender Ken Lucas lost while populist aggressor John Yarmuth won.I don’t think you can pigeon hole the race in PA-06 last year in quite that manner. From what I’ve been able to determine, what you might call the “cultures” of the two districts swung slightly towa ...
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"Gunga Dan" Lawyers Up
2007-09-19 15:20:00
Holy cow, as the late Phil Rizutto of the Yankees would say - a backgrounder on the whole "Dubya/Burkett/Texas National Guard" story appears here.And here's Dan talking to Bill Maher about the news business again on "Real TIme" from earlier this year.Update 1 9/21: Former CBS News producer Mary Mapes has more.Update 2 9/21: Maybe "the camera never blinks," but CBS management sure did (h/t Atrios). ...
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How Exactly Is Jim Moran Wrong, Steny?
2007-09-19 14:19:00
Allow me to add my admittedly small voice to the chorus in support of Rep. Jim Moran (D) of Virginia for his criticism of AIPAC and its influence in our decision to wage our disastrous war in Iraq. I don’t know much else about Moran concerning his voting record or any public statements he’s made, but I give him credit for naming the “elephant in the room” here.And after Moran received the obligatory public dressing-down from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, we are treated to this lie.AIPAC tells CNN it has taken no position on the Iraq war.That should just about set off convulsions of rage, especially after reading this story from April 2003 (particularly this excerpt)…Officially, Israel is not one of the 49 countries the administration has identified as members of the "Coalition of the Willing." Officially, AIPAC had no position on the merits of a war against Iraq before it started. Officially, Iraq is not the subject of the pro-Israel lobby's three-day meeting (in Washin ...
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Journo Jibes And Blankley Blather
2007-09-19 12:19:00
If anyone out there still has any doubts about how thoroughly our corporate media has been infiltrated and practically consumed by neocon simpatico propagandists, I have only to present this item.Editor and Publisher is, for anyone unfamiliar with them, a publication about trends, developments and news overall about the news business itself (and that goes for its online presence also, of course). And the story I linked to above is something I expected to see at any freeper site you can think of, not a place that usually offers high quality reporting.See, Tony Blankley, the editorial page editor of the Washington Times (a right-wing PR factory usually masquerading as s newspaper) is leaving his post to take up space elsewhere for what is quite probably too much money for his minimal ability (and if you guessed that he will now be paid by The Heritage Foundation, pat yourself on the back).And as he departs, he offered some advice to editorial writers, telling them to not be so "fudgy" in ...
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Today's "Patrick's Book Deal" Nonsense
2007-09-19 10:50:00
I really don’t want to devote much time to this since I already said something about it awhile back, but in today’s Bucks County Courier Times, someone named Michael Brady of the Majority Accountability Project (some freeper Astroturf outfit that I guess will be dogging Patrick around as well as other Democrats into next year’s elections) sounds off on how horrible the book deal signed by Patrick supposedly is.I think the site for these clowns can be accessed here; I am unable to test this link at the moment, but I will later (long story).And it’s funny to me what Brady considers to be “questionable”; apparently, the book deal is, but it’s perfectly fine for Brady to publish the approximate amount of debt that Patrick and Jennifer have accrued to date? Talk about a low blow.And though the Courier Times commendably printed a response by Patrick to run side by side with Brady’s garbage, the paper identified the MAP as “an Internet-based news service serving as an online ...
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Tuesday Videos
2007-09-18 22:17:00
K.T. Tunstall ("If Only" acoustic, from the new CD "Drastic Fantastic")......a bit of a bonus; folkies The Kennedys perform "Wall Of Death" by R.T.......and we lost Jimi Hendrix 37 years ago today ("Purple Haze," from Monterrey Pop I believe)......and just to remind everyone on the importance of habeas corpus and calling on our senators to support its restoration ("wide stance" is on the list), here is Keith Olbermann's Special Comment from last October when it was first removed by the signing of the Military Commissions Act.And we should also support the Webb Amendment for our troops (more info here - lots of homework, I know).For more videos, please check the WeShow link from the home page. ...
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Too Much Even For A Repug
2007-09-18 17:14:00
A long one is coming up here.I was remiss in not getting to this earlier, but in the Sunday New York Times magazine on September 9th (the one with the face of Rudy! plastered in the cover like he’s a Hollywood tough guy in a profile by Matt Bai, who I guess took a break from bashing Democrats and lefty bloggers in particular with Nick Gillespie's help to fluff the presumptive Repug nominee for preznit), writer Jeffrey Rosen profiled Jack Goldsmith, who started as a legal counsel within Bushco’s Defense Department but soon found himself hired to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department in October 2003.And he quit nine months later.As Rosen tells us…During his first weeks on the job, Goldsmith had discovered that the Office of Legal Counsel had written two legal opinions -- both drafted by Goldsmith's friend (and fellow law professor John) Yoo, who served as a deputy in the office -- about the authority of the executive branch to conduct coercive interrogations. ...
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Restoring Habeas Corpus
2007-09-18 14:50:00
Via Atrios (echo chamber time here, but worth it)...And here’s the video with Chris Dodd (can't test this at the moment, but it should be right)... ...
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The "Consensus" That Isn't There
2007-09-18 12:39:00
I hadn’t really given much of a though to Michael Mukasey, the retired federal judge from New York nominated by Dubya as the next Attorney General to replace Abu Gonzales. Maybe, for some reason, the fact that Sen. Charles Schumer of New York approved of him made me blow off any examination of Mukasey until today.(Of course, Schumer has also rejected the idea of making fund managers pay a tax rate of 35 percent, the ordinary tax rate, on “carried interest,” as opposed to the nominal 15 percent rate they presently pay when declaring the income as capital gains, even though many Democrats approve it; this is tantamount to an undeserved windfall for these people, though Schumer – erroneously, I think – believes raising the tax would lead to an exodus of high-paying jobs from Wall Street and perhaps the country…I’m willing to take that chance if it means more funding for health care and our schools).Fortunately, though, the New York Times took a closer look at Mukasey today i ...
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Tuesday FISA Follies
2007-09-18 11:02:00
The latest excuse from Mike “Some Americans Are Going To Die!!” McConnell for expanding FISA is as follows (as noted here)…"China and Russia's foreign intelligence services are among the most aggressive in collecting against sensitive and protected U.S. systems, facilities and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels," McConnell says in his testimony. "Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security."Of course, McConnell doesn’t really give us a hint as to that kind of “sensitive and protected U.S. systems, facilities, and development projects” he’s talking about (and by the way, we’re not completely innocent when it comes to spying either, as noted here; no country is).As we know, McConnell has been caught lying about FISA in the past (such as here where he stated that it helped to crack a terror case in Germany ...
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Losing Hearts And Minds
2007-09-18 08:00:00
Cliff Schecter introduces us to the latest from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films about Blackwater, the contractor now supposedly banned from doing business in Iraq (Schecter explains here). ...
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Monday Videos
2007-09-17 22:42:00
Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam ("Hard Sun," from the soundtrack of the movie "Into The Wild," directed by Sean Penn - don't know where these pics came from; a nice fan video, though)......and Happy Birthday to Fee Waybill (yeah, like that's his real name) of The Tubes ("T.V. Is King," from "Remote Control" produced by Todd Rundgren; another neat little fan video).For more videos, please check the WeShow link from the home page. ...
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Rudy Redux
2007-09-17 22:13:00
Hat tip to The Daily Kos for this one - before Rudy! fusses too much about an ad, maybe he ought to explain this, if he can.And I honestly thought Frank Rich knew better, by the way; more fool me, I guess. ...
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